Il nome segreto di Roma tra antiquaria ed esoterismo. Una riconsiderazione delle fonti

Abstract

The secret name of Rome between antiquarianism and exoterismus Starting from a well known passage in the Saturnalia (3,9), where Macrobius describes the ancient, and probably cognate rituals of evocatio and devotio hostium, this paper scrutinizes some other Greco-Roman sources that deal either with the notion of a secret name or with a tutelary deity of Rome, whose knowledge and utterance was strictly prohibited, in order to forestall the danger of an enemy’s evocatio. Besides an obviously implied Redetabu, it is possible to argue for a political use of this motif – namely in the famous episode of Valerius Soranus, allegedly accused to have divulged the secret during the Social War or, later, of Stilicho, proditor arcani imperii. Finally, the discussion of Lydus’ De Mensibus 4,73, which apparently reveals the sacred and the mysteric names of Rome (stating that the city was also called Flora and Amor) allows us to examine in detail some more esoteric interpretations, concerning the probably bisexual nature of the tutelary deity, and offers a hint to present a little known Italian theatrical text about the Sacred Origins of Rome. Originally written in 1914 by a Sicilian nobleman, the representation of this work was made possible ten years later thanks to some neopagan and traditionalist intellectuals, in an attempt at reviving Roman traditions under the newly established Fascist regime. tommasi@flcl.unipi.it